Rain
by neoEON
Summary: All the world is waiting for the sun. XigDem, character death . Oneshot.


**Rain**

---

_Is it you I want?_

_Or just a notion of,_

_A heart to wrap around,_

_So I can find my way around?_

He'd gotten off on the wrong foot that morning, or rather, that afternoon. He hadn't woken up until well into the day, though at first glance out his window, revealing a swirling black abyss of rain, he wouldn't have been bothered to figure it was three in the afternoon. It was his alarm clock, which had conveniently failed to go off for the third time that week, which told him in their big, blocky red letters that it was actually six hours later than when he'd intended to get up. With a groan, the older man shifted from the warmth of his covers and was greeted by the unnaturally chilly air of the castle. Sure, central heating was something the large castle lacked, but even so, it was always kept warm through one way or another. Be it the large, often dormant heater somewhere down in the basement or Axel's even less frequent mood swings. They had learned to improvise, however, and the members of Organization XIII had learned that subjecting their VIII to their XIII was the quickest, cheapest and most efficient way to keep the castle heated. However, Axel had gone renegade not long after XIII had left the Organization, which meant that the halls were starting to become rather chilly.

With another brisk groan, he completely abandoned his warm bed and stood, stretching his arms over his head. With a few satisfying pops from his joints, the man pulled his long, graying hair into a ponytail at the back of his head and slid the uniform coat over his pajamas, too lazy to bother putting anything too decent on. He grabbed the eye patch from his night stand and adjusted it over his right eye, and with a quick glance in passing to the mirror, he portaled out of his room and into the kitchen.

It was one of those rare days for Xigbar, one of those days where Xemnas had decided his number II didn't have to go out on some outrageous mission. The more recent ones, to an oriental world called The Land of Dragons, had been somewhat disappointing, and he was certain that if he ever smelled incense or saw another woman whose face had been painted ghostly white, he'd shoot himself in the head with his own gun. There were often quicker, more efficient ways to kill somebody, but Xemnas had, as of late, found the most excruciating of them all: torture in the form of lousy missions.

The tanned man yawned as he reached for the cold coffee pot in the kitchen. There wasn't much left, but he could heat up the cup and a half that remained, at least. He frowned to himself as he pressed a button on the coffee pot, and with a small _bleep_ of approval, it began to heat the remnants of its container up again. Most of the Organization had already left on missions, and in fact, a good percentage of the remaining members were headed to Hollow Bastion – the Radiant Gardens, to be exact. Xemnas had even planned to get out of house for a visit, and always obedient, Saïx had offered to head there as well. Sora, the Keyblade wielder, was to be there after all. And if the kid had managed to wipe out most of the occupants of Castle Oblivion, then sending some of the strongest members to the world must have been a good idea. Xigbar, ever thankful for his ever so important role in the plot, stayed behind to hold down the fort.

Xaldin was off in that world with the unidentifiable beast, which left Luxord at the castle with him. Although a quick glance around the kitchen was enough to tell him that the Gambler of Fate had either headed out for the day, confined himself to his room, or was recovering from one hell of a hangover, which wasn't uncommon for X.

Which left him to his options for the day – he could do pretty much anything he wanted, as the highest member in the castle, he had the say of what went on, though he doubted Luxord would really complain much anyway. The coffee pot bleeped again, indicating that the beverage was of prime consuming heat. Satisfied, Xigbar pulled a mug from one of the cupboards and transferred the remaining black liquid from the pot to the cup. The World That Never Was didn't get a newspaper, so that eliminated the possibility of reading up on anything, the world also lacked its own news channel. Although they'd somehow managed to pick up most of the other worlds' channels, watching the news on the television wasn't as ideal as reading it out of a paper. The news anchors that were hired these days were pathetic; Xigbar had realized this after he'd spent an afternoon switching between some of the fifty odd news channels. Either the anchors spoke in long winded drawls that would put Xemnas to shame, or the news was entirely unimportant, and thus unworthy of watching. He had come to the conclusion that even if there was some sort of news paper going around the worlds, it would probably be just as boring.

"That sucks," He mumbled as he portaled up to his room. Unlike most of the now uninhabited rooms, his probably lacked the most distinguishing features. There was a bed, which was clothed in white, white nightstands, a small white dresser, a white television. Everything was entirely devoid of any coloration, and Xigbar took pride in having the bleakest – apart from Xemnas' – room.

The Nobody curled into his now-cold bed and stared out the large window. Through it, like Xemnas', he had a perfect view of Kingdom Hearts, although the heart shaped moon was distorted by the torrents of rain that were cascading down his window. Rain was not uncommon in The World That Never Was, seeing as whenever Demyx was in, the weather turned for the worst. Though the younger Nobody had professed his liking for the cold, wet weather, only to have it dashed away by Saïx, who, ever the party pooper, had to remind the blonde that they couldn't _like_ anything, because they didn't have hearts.

Xigbar rolled his gold eye at the thought. Saïx was second only to Xemnas in his stoic, emotionless. Part of the blank slate personality was probably to help control his berserker fits, which were less frequent and easier controlled, but still quite fearful, and the other only obvious reason for it was to get on Xemnas' good side.

Xemnas, on the other hand, seriously needed to stop shoveling the emotionless crap down his own throat.

He knew, as well as any other respectable scientist, that the heart did not govern the ability to feel anything – the brain covered that one. They were simple chemical balances that were based on hormones and instincts, nothing more. And if Xemnas started denying them of hormones and instincts because they didn't have hearts, well, some heads would start rolling. And as the only member who'd be able to get away with such an atrocity, Xigbar would be the one to happily smack some sense into the Superior. There was no getting to him sometimes, as the man was solely obsessed with regaining their hearts and Kingdom Hearts itself, which hung in the sky, unfinished. There was one thing for certain about their Superior, however.

That man needed to get laid. And fast, lest his subordinates go crazy.

Xigbar chuckled to himself as he pressed the rim of the mug to his lips and in one quick motion, took a swig of the lukewarm liquid and sighed. "…It's never any good after its been reheated." He lamented, setting the mug on his nightstand.

"Well, might as well see what's on the television," He mumbled, grabbing the remote. Although, mundane as always, there was nothing entertaining on at all – a few outrageous talk shows here and there, some teen drama, a romance flick, and a show about the migratory patterns of the bottlenose dolphin.

The man threw the remote across the room as the television flashed then became quiet. A thousand some odd channels, and absolutely _nothing_ on. He bit his bottom lip as the rain outside became stronger. Either Demyx had come back, or he was doing something entertaining wherever he was.

Ah, _Demyx_.

At first, the cheeriest member of the Organization had gotten on his nerves – back when Demyx had been the newest member, Xigbar had made it a habit to avoid the blonde musician. Why? After you've spent so long cooped up with guys who talked to a moon, and then scolded you for showing even the faintest hints of any sort of emotion, it got a little weird when somebody would bounce up to you, all sunshine and bubbles. Demyx had never been insanely happy, but compared to the other members of the Organization, he lit up a room whenever he walked into it.

It had taken weeks, months even, but he'd found out that whenever he hung out with the newest member of their Organization of stuffy, heartless men, things began to become dismal. The possibility of obtaining their hearts once again seemed almost reachable, and the goals that they had began to seem closer to completing. The two had developed some fluke of an unspoken friendship, and whenever he found himself without something to do, he'd portal down to the Hall of Empty Melodies, where the musician could often be found rehearsing with his sitar. When Demyx had first arrived, his skills on the odd contraption were hardly worth mentioning, but the man had dedication, and within a few months, the songs became smoother. It was those times that he'd just sit, for hours on end while Demyx practiced the same songs over and over, and no matter how long he played them, Xigbar never grew tired. To have such dedication and perseverance was something he hadn't expected from the optimistic member, but without a hitch, the Melodious Nocturne had proved the Freeshooter wrong.

A small smile tugged at his lips at the thought – after so many afternoons of just watching him play, that unspoken friendship had wordlessly become something more, for both of them. And although calling it _romance_ was hardly the right word for it, the two Nobodies had forged a bond closer than any of the other members had. It was bound to happen, after all, any two beings that enjoyed each other's company that much were bound to fall head over heels sometime.

He wasn't sure how long he'd spent just staring out the window at the rain, but when he'd finally pried his eyes off the murky pane of glass, his clock read 5:23 PM in the same big, blocky numbers as they had every day. _Everyone is probably back by now_, I thought to himself, _better go find Xemnas and figure out how things went_.

Reluctant yet again, he crawled out of his bed for the second time that day and portaled down to the kitchen with his coffee mug, its contents chilled once more.

When he arrived to the gathering area, he found a cloaked man with bright blue hair sitting alone at one of the tables, a frown etched on his face. Xigbar reminded himself idly that Saïx was _usually_ frowning, and that it probably had nothing to do with the status of the mission at all. Rolling his bottom lip between his teeth, the Nobody gathered the gall to approach the Berserker.

"How'd things go?" He asked, shifting from his usual enthusiastic way of talking to the down-to-business one. Neither he nor Saïx had taken much of a liking to each other, so making things as quick as they possibly could be would be the best choice of action. VII looked up from the hole he was glaring into the table and redirected the vile glance to Xigbar's forehead.

"Brazen," The man replied calmly, "VIII had the audacity to show up in the Radiant Gardens as well…" His tone turned bitter in the slightest at the mention of Axel, "He explained our plans to Sora," Saïx's gold gaze met Xigbar's own, "However the Keyblade wielder had no choice but to keep going along with it. I suppose it might have aided us in the least."

"I see… Has Xemnas returned?" Xigbar struggled to keep his tones casual, but with Saïx it was difficult to maintain a casual conversation.

"Yes, the Superior is back," Saïx returned to eyeing a hole in the table.

"And IX?" It wouldn't be unlikely that Xemnas had forced the younger Nobody to stay behind and toss Sora around for a while. Sure, Demyx had gotten a reputation for being cowardice, but when it came down to it, the kid could fight pretty well. Even if it did seem absurd that his weapon of choice was, in fact, his instrument.

"IX has been terminated." Saïx said coolly to the smooth surface. Xigbar's straight expression turned into a frown, and he nearly dropped the mug of cold coffee onto the floor.

"Are you sure?" Saïx nodded briefly and sent a look up to the Freeshooter that suggested if he enjoyed having his head on his shoulders it would be a wise idea to take his business elsewhere.

_That can't be_, Xigbar thought as he deposited the cup of coffee into the kitchen and portaled just outside the Proof of Existence. _Demyx couldn't have faded, right? What about all that shit where you're supposed to know someone's died?_

…_Well, maybe you need a heart for that._

Xigbar sighed as he stood outside the room, his eyes everywhere and anywhere but the actual Proof themselves. _What if he is gone? He was perhaps the last bit of sanity this Organization has ever had!_

His right hand clenched into a tight fist in his gloves, so tight that he could feel the impressions of his fingernails through the thick leather fabric. The material squeaked in protest, but the Freeshooter ignored it.

For as long as he'd known about it, The World That Never Was had never had a sun. Lying within the realm of darkness, all the world had was the large, heart-shaped moon – Kingdom Hearts – which worked both day and night as the only natural light source. Or, that was until Demyx had come along. He had been the world's makeshift sun – always cheerful, no matter what was going on. It just naturally came to the boy, which was likely one of the reasons that he had been so bent on staying within Demyx's presence as well. He was the one who made this whole charade seem almost likely – seem logical, almost. He was the one that made him feel almost like he would get that heart of his back.

And for a long time, Demyx had remained The World That Never Was' sun.

The man redundantly angled his gaze toward the Proof and took a sharp breath in. There was no other solid evidence, but deep down, Xigbar knew he was dead.

The World That Never Was' little sun had gone supernova, and had left the remnants of the world to suffer in eternal darkness.

From somewhere higher in the castle, the sound of the rain's pitter-patter hit the roofs and echoed, melancholily, in the empty halls of the Castle That Never Was.

"Damn."

_Rain, rain, go away,_

_Come again another day._

_All the world is waiting for the sun._

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I don't really want to ruin the end with a long author's note, so I'll make it short.

I don't own Kingdom Hearts or "Rain" by Breaking Benjamin.


End file.
